122 miles (round trip)
$23/night: Pawnee Campground (Arapaho/Roosevelt National Forrest)

Today’s adventure was not about alpine lakes and bear encounters. Today is the day brother Tim started moving into his new house, with the help of his friend Leisa and I. Second floor walk-up, to a 2nd and 3rd floor walk-up living space.

I didn’t take any pictures. It was hot. We were sweaty. Three cars and a U-Haul trailer full of stuff.

And totally worth it.

That night, we had a really violent thunderstorm.

Afterwards, I headed back to Pawnee for one last night. The view of the Rockies made me finally understand “purple mountain majesties” from America the Beautiful. My first grade teacher played a record of Kate Smith singing this every morning when we said our Pledge of Allegiance.